TheSamba.com :: View topic - 185/75/R14 HANKOOK RA08 V.S the 195/75/R14

Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:10 pm

quick question...

would you recommend the 185.. or 195..

how will this effect the ride quality and handling?

thanks.

Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:57 pm

The 195 gives the proper overall rolling diameter. The 185 will be slightly short. There really wouldn't be a difference in ride between the two. The 195 would probably be slightly better in terms of traction and cornering grip.

David

Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:01 pm

ok.. why are the 195's so hard to find compared to the 185?

Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:14 am

D,

just out of curiosity, why the 195s vs the 185s...? I thought the OEM tire was a 185R14 LT tire? Wouldn't that then be the correct size? Or was the OEM tire on his van a bit different for some reason?

Best,

Lanval

Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:18 am

185 is oem.. but people say 195's may be better.. a tad bit wider...

just hard to find.

Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:07 am

Not hard at all....

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/reifenbestellen.pl?typ=D38361&dsco=35

Thu Aug 09, 2007 5:37 am

When I was shopping for tires I was told that if the second number is missing (in this case, 75), then the sidewall height is 80% of the tread width. The tires spec'd for the early Vanagons were 185R14 and on later Vanagons the spec was changed to include 205/70R14. 185(/80)R14 would have about a 148mm sidewall height, 205/70R14 would have about 144mm height (205mm*70%), and 195/75R14 would fall in between at 146mm. By contrast, a 185/75R14 would have a 139mm sidewall height, so you're smaller by 5mm than the smallest tire VW specified for your van. I don't think it's enough of a difference to be really noticeable other than running slightly higher RPMs at a given speed.

Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:26 am

Here is some information that you may find useful

http://busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp

Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:03 am

Lanval wrote: D,

just out of curiosity, why the 195s vs the 185s...? I thought the OEM tire was a 185R14 LT tire? Wouldn't that then be the correct size? Or was the OEM tire on his van a bit different for some reason?

Best,

Lanval

Hi Lanval,

The factory fitment of 185R14 had an aspect ratio of 80, not 75. The overall diameter of a 185R14 is 25.65". A 185/75/14 works out to 24.93" while a 195/75/14 is 25.52".

Regards,

David

Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:09 pm

thanks for the help guys.

i have stock steel. and so it seems as tho 195 is the biggest i can get.

ill order them from tire easy.

thanks for the link.